Central banks

Remember that the New Zealand dollar is highly sensitive to the commodity markets in general, and because of that trader should be a bit hesitant to get overly involved in this market between now and Friday.

With most developed nations opting to debase their currencies, New Zealand is going the other way and preparing to raise interest rates and keep inflation low. As a result, the New Zealand dollar stands out as one of the lone buying opportunities.

The Bank of Canada’s dropping of language about the need for future interest-rate increases and today’s decisions by central banks in Norway, Sweden and the Philippines to leave their rates on hold unite them with counterparts in reinforcing rather than retracting loose monetary policy.

The increasing possibility that interest payments will be missed on U.S. Treasuries poses serious risks to the global financial system and could trigger rounds of central bank intervention should the U.S. dollar go into free fall.

Ben S. Bernanke, the world’s most-powerful central banker, says he doesn’t understand gold prices. If his peers had paid attention, they might have stopped expanding reserves that lost $545 billion in value since bullion peaked in 2011.

The continuous decline in holdings reflects a further weakening in gold sentiment. The ones who beg to differ are the central bankers who have either held on or added to their gold reserves this year, viewing gold as an important diversifier.